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The social media network X has sparked significant outrage after users used its AI chatbot Grok to change photos of females by removing their clothing.

Multiple examples have emerged where the technology has been employed to digitally undress female subjects to render them in swimwear without permission, as well as to insert them in sexually explicit scenarios.

Developer Reaction and Legal Stance

XAI, the organization that created Grok, remained silent to requests for comment, except for an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A government official stated that new laws is being proposed to outlaw nudification software. Under a proposed law, anyone who supplied such tools would "receive a jail term and significant penalties".

"The platform has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they desired to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "seem to have impunity."

Regulator Stance and Platform Capabilities

The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the risk" of people seeing illegal content on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently looking into X or Grok in regarding artificial intelligence images.

Grok is a free AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they mention it in a message.

It is commonly used to give reactions or more background to other users' remarks, but people on X are also capable of edit an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification tool.

Background of Controversy and Rules

The tool has been faulted for allowing users to create pictures and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive material, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating inappropriate content of public figures.

"X has been enabling the generation and distribution of these images for months without taking any steps and we have yet to see any action by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting images of individuals in a sexually explicit manner".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images generated with AI.

It said networks such as X were mandated to take "necessary measures" to "lessen the danger" of users viewing illegal material on their platforms and to remove it quickly when they become aware of it.